I hit the Columbia out of the Dalles on March 15th, the Ides of March. Since I was no a roman emperor I did not think I had any reason to be worried. In fact, I was looking forward to a banner day. I had smashed them pretty good on a trip 2 weeks prior and now the water was a good 3-4 degrees warmer. I headed out with dreams of lots of monster bass dancing in my head.

To make a long story short I had a pretty mediocre day. I only caught 8 bass and only 3 of those were over 2lbs and the biggest was only 2lb 14oz. Not the kind of day dreams are made of but still better than a skunking.

I think part of my poor performance was trying so hard to make the shallow bite happen. The water had warmed to anywhere between 45F an  47F depending on how protected it was. I thought for sure I would be racking and stacking them in the shallows and spent half my day trying to make that happen.

In the end, I only caught 2 bass (and lost one other) in the shallows from around 6'. Both the fish I caught came on my trusty Jack Hammer Stealthblade. I also through a shallow crankbait and a rattletrap but neither of those produced even a bite.

The other 6 bass came from 20 to 30 FOW. If I spent the entire day doing that I likely would have had a better bag and more bass. My best 5 probably only weighed about 11lbs (I did not weigh many fish since I was so sure I would run across giants at some point). Of those 6, I think 3 were on a drop shot and 3 were on the Ned. They bit really well and I even caught bass on back-to-back casts at one point.

The thing that kept me going back to the shallows was that I never found a bunch out deep. I could only catch at most 2 bass from a spot and most produced nothing at all. I also spent some time in 10'-15' but I never had a sniff at those depths.

In retrospect, I should have spent more time hitting and running deep spots. There is a nearly infinite amount of rock in that 20 to 30 foot depth range in that area and perhaps if I had spent more time combing it I would have found the mother lode. I don't know if that would have worked - I only know what didn't.

Oh well, I just hope to do better next time. Having a bad trip during prime big fish season is just a little annoying. I need a revenge trip

Here are some pics and the video from the day:

What's better than watching the sun come up over a bent rod!

Best JH fish was really dark colored:

You definitely still fared better than Brutus !

Good looking brownies!

I find this time of year to be the most challenging and I think your assessment of finding what works and working it, vs trying to make work what you want to work, is the best advice you can give.

Hell, I’d take your luck over here in MI right now!

37 minutes ago, raydomz said:

Good looking brownies!

I find this time of year to be the most challenging and I think your assessment of finding what works and working it, vs trying to make work what you want to work, is the best advice you can give.

Hell, I’d take your luck over here in MI right now!

Every time I am absolutely positive a certain technique or depth is going to be the deal the bass politely remind me that they are not bound by my decisions :)

You write the best subject lines/titles. Your ledes are catchy too. Pity the bass weren't as catchy. The best laid plans of mice and bearded men, eh?

2 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

You write the best subject lines/titles. Your ledes are catchy too. Pity the bass weren't as catchy. The best laid plans of mice and bearded men, eh?

The worse the trip the harder I work on the title

8 hours ago, pdxfisher said:

The worse the trip the harder I work on the title

The powers of observation that can make one a successful angler can also make one a good storyteller.

Nice